Contextualising the antecedents of organisational innovativeness: A field study of the UAE public sector

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the specific meanings underlying the general antecedents of organisational innovativeness (OI) in one specific public sector context, to fill empirically the categories employed in prior quantitative research and to understand better some of the opportunities for strengthening facilitators of OI and overcoming barriers to OI that present themselves in particular contexts. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on a field study. It uses 29 semi-structured interviews with the members of UAE government and semi-government organisations. The research methodology is qualitative: it seeks to elucidate the meanings that structure the respondents’ understandings of innovation at work. Findings: Across the UAE public sector there are great differences in organisational members’ interest in, and readiness to engage with, OI. Members of the public sector tended to conceptualise OI as a set of individual efforts and relationships in which the trust with superiors played a key role, as did the availability of individual rewards. For some respondents communication served as an umbrella term to denote organisational characteristics that would enable individuals to join efforts to make the public sector more innovative. Overall, the great variations in respondents’ ability to articulate and conceptualise the antecedents of OI suggests that organisational capabilities to support OI need strengthening. Research limitations/implications: The paper’s insights are based on the study of the public sector of only one country and may be difficult to generalise to other countries. Practical implications: The paper suggests ways in which Emirati public sector organisations can strengthen the facilitators of OI and overcome the obstacles presented by the barriers to OI in order to help public sector leaders and employees make innovation a routine element of their day-to-day work. Originality/value: The paper presents a first attempt at using qualitative research to deepen our understanding of the antecedents of organisational innovativeness in the public sector.